The present invention pertains to electronic programming guides (xe2x80x9cEPGsxe2x80x9d).
Presently existing EPGs provide television viewers with on-screen television schedule information, e.g. in a convenient regular or non-regular rectangular grid format. One type of EPG is used in conjunction with an analog television system. In such a system, one of the cable channels is reserved for displaying programming information. The programming information is displayed in a grid, e.g. grid 2 of FIG. 1. Grid 2 comprises four columns 3-6. First column 3 lists the various channels of the cable broadcast system. Columns 4, 5 and 6 indicate what is showing on the channels listed in column 3 in half-hour increments. Thus, if one tunes to the EPG at 10:35 p.m., second column 4 displays what is showing between 10:00 and 10:30 p.m., third column 5 displays what is showing between 10:30 and 11:00 p.m., and fourth column 6 displays what is showing between 11:00 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. A row 7 at mid-screen indicates what time slots columns 4 to 6 correspond to. (A portion 8 of screen 9 above row 7 usually provides continuous advertisements.)
In most cable TV systems, there are more television channels than there is space for rows in grid 2. Accordingly, grid 2 typically scrolls at a pre-selected slow rate, so that a viewer can see what is showing on all of the channels.
The information contained in an analog EPG. is typically broadcast by a cable operator on a dedicated one of the channels of the cable TV system.
Most digital EPGs operate in a different way. In a digital EPG, program schedule information, and sometimes applications and/or systems software, is transmitted to equipment located on the viewer""s premises (usually a xe2x80x9cdigital set-top boxxe2x80x9d or STB) by way of broadcast, cable, direct satellite or some other suitable form of transmission. The STB contains memory (and is in essence a dedicated computing device) so that the program schedule information can be stored for later viewing. The program schedule information stored in the STB is periodically updated (e.g., on a continuous, daily, weekly, or biweekly basis). A microprocessor within the STB cooperates with the viewer""s television set to display the stored program schedule information and to implement other functions of the EPG in response to user-generated signals. The functions available depend on the sophistication of the particular EPG.
Digital EPGs are often used in an interactive television system. In an interactive television system EPG, a user may browse schedule information in any order, select programs from on-screen menus for current or future viewing and order pay-per-view programming on demand. Some EPGs permit other functions, e.g. an e-mail function, or a function that permits a user to block certain kinds of programs such as adult or violent programs.
Collectively, prior EPGs fail to provide viewing capabilities that realistically address the viewing habits of the users of these systems. As mentioned above, an analog TV EPG is viewed on a TV screen as a permanently scrolling rectangular table. This solution does not require from users any additional interaction and is suitable for a completely passive television viewer (the so-called xe2x80x9ccouch potatoxe2x80x9d). Unfortunately, this is a poor solution for interactive TV, because:
1. The scrolling speed is constant and cannot be adjusted.
2. In an analog EPG system, the user cannot switch to the channel of choice immediately from the EPG (e.g. by clicking on a display of a channel number on the EPG). Instead, the user must input the channel number with a remote controller.
3. The analog EPG scrolling table is completely sequential (providing information in an order depending upon channel number) and the user cannot pre-sort schedule data or otherwise personalize the EPG.
A two-way interactive EPG is more sophisticated. Unfortunately this solution also has many problems. Interactive EPG systems provide drop-down menus that require multiple steps in order to interact with the EPG, which is very frustrating when a search for a desired program is unsuccessful. The EPG is inflexible in terms of menu design, because the menu itself is a set of regular two-dimensional grids.
Some of the other problems with prior art EPGs are as follows.
1. Program Description Truncation. When displaying schedule information in grid format, i.e., columns representing time slots and rows representing channels, program titles are generally truncated to fit into the cells of the grid. The width of a grid cell varies with the program duration. Since a 30 minute program is allotted only a small space for the program title and description, titles and/or descriptions for half and even full hour programs often must be truncated to fit in the allotted space. Some systems simply cut off the description of a program without abbreviating it in any way, such that the user cannot determine the subject matter of the program. Although some systems partially alleviate this problem by providing two lines of text in each grid cell, this solution is not ideal because program descriptions may still be truncated.
2. Inability to Simultaneously Channel Surf and View EPG. Prior EPGs lack a method for creating a viewing itinerary electronically while a user concurrently views a program on the television screen. In other words, when a user views a program on a particular channel, he or she cannot electronically set up a sequence of other channels to surf. Moreover, these prior EPGs leave much guess work for the user as he or she navigates through a sequence of channels. When skimming through channels and trying to determine what program is being displayed on a channel, commonly known as xe2x80x9cchannel surfing,xe2x80x9d the user must guess which program is currently being aired from the video segment encountered during channel surfing. Since muchxe2x80x94in some cases, up to 30%xe2x80x94of the programming appearing on a channel at any given time is advertising, the user is not provided with any clues as to what program is appearing on a selected channel at a given time. Therefore, the user must wait until the advertisement or commercial ends before learning which program is appearing on the selected channel. Thus, a need exists for an EPG that displays current program schedule information for each channel at the same time that the user surfs through the channels.
3. Text Size. Unfortunately, current EPGs allow for only one font size. However, human beings do not all have the same acuity of vision. Therefore, some viewers may be unable to read the information in the EPG.
4. Specular Highlighting. Existing EPGs provide only a very rudimentary lighting capability. In other words, existing EPGs do not have a very sophisticated ability to adjust the brightness of the EPG. This detracts from the utility of the EPG.
An EPG in accordance with one embodiment of the invention comprises a set of pictograms containing information identifying programs being shown on a set of video channels. The pictograms comprise non-alphanumeric symbols to assist a viewer in determining what is being shown, even if the various options displayed in the EPG are too small for normal alphanumeric characters to be used. In one embodiment, the pictograms contain one or more colors that assist the viewer in recognizing the pictogram and thereby determining what programs are being shown. In one embodiment, the EPG includes both pictograms and text (alphanumeric symbols) to indicate what programs are being shown.
In one embodiment, the EPG is shown in a window region within a television screen while the other portion of the screen displays a television program. Thus, a viewer can view a program broadcast on a television channel and the EPG simultaneously. The viewer can determine what program is on the channel he is watching, even if the viewer turns to that channel while a commercial is being shown. Further, the viewer can identify other programs and select them by clicking on various icons or pictograms in the EPG. Thus, the viewer can easily select channels showing other desirable programs while the television is tuned to another program.
As mentioned above, the EPG uses pictograms. These pictograms can be distinctive in shape and color. Thus, even if the EPG is xe2x80x9cshrunkxe2x80x9d to fit in a relatively small window within the TV viewing screen, a viewer can still determine from the EPG which programs are of interest, and which programs are not of interest.
In one embodiment, the EPG permits a user to xe2x80x9czoomxe2x80x9d in on, or otherwise visually expand portions of, the EPG program listing. Thus, the viewer can identify those parts of the EPG showing programs of interest.
In one embodiment, the EPG and EPG pictograms are generated using a 3D graphics pipeline. The EPG comprises a set of textured geometric surfaces that form the pictograms as well as alphanumeric text data. (The geometric surfaces textured to form pictograms and alphanumeric data are called xe2x80x9cdata surfacesxe2x80x9d.) The EPG also comprises a set of xe2x80x9cvideo surfaces,xe2x80x9d i.e. geometric surfaces textured with video images from television programs, previews of television programs, or video data stored in a memory such as a hard disk drive. The geometric surfaces, including both data surfaces and video surfaces, can be arbitrarily positioned in virtual 3D space to provide data and video information. For example, the video surfaces can be positioned in one part of a television screen and the data surfaces can be positioned an another part.
In one embodiment, display of the EPG surfaces can be modified in response to certain events, e.g. a remote controller button being pushed. For example, when a control button on a remote controller is actuated to select one of the pictograms, the EPG can highlight the selected pictogram, or alter a video surface showing a program preview. This alteration of the video surface can be in the form of zooming in on the video surface by changing its position in virtual 3D space or changing the color of the video surface by changing specular, ambient, and directional lighting. In one embodiment, the EPG can alter a data surface by changing the texture applied to that surface, changing the lighting applied to that surface, or moving the surface in virtual 3D space. By altering the various video and data surfaces, the surfaces (including pictograms) can be observed from different perspectives, (i.e. from different xe2x80x9cvirtual locationsxe2x80x9d). This facilitates a viewer zooming in on the various pictograms to better identify what kind of program they represent.
In one embodiment, the EPG includes icons or pictograms related to other items of interest, e.g. icons or pictograms that can be clicked on for pay-per-view events. Thus, a viewer can click on a pictogram to watch a pay-per-view boxing match, movie, concert, or other event.
In another embodiment, icons or pictograms are included in the EPG corresponding to different types of merchandise or services. A user can click on these pictograms to obtain information concerning these goods and services, and order them using the EPG.
In one embodiment, the EPG provides user assistance. This user assistance can be in the form of prompts that are displayed if the viewer presses an inappropriate control button. In another embodiment, the EPG indicates to the viewer what controls are appropriate to actuate in a given situation.
In one embodiment, the font size (and the pictogram size) of the EPG image can be adjusted by the user, as can the lighting and colors of the EPG display.
These and other features of the invention are described in greater detail below.